


Blame

by flecksofpoppy



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Character Study, Gen, M/M, POV Second Person, Reibert - Freeform, Tumblr Ask Box Fic, canonverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-19
Updated: 2014-06-19
Packaged: 2018-02-05 07:21:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1810057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flecksofpoppy/pseuds/flecksofpoppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is not a warrior’s role to assign blame.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blame

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the tumblr starter meme based on prompt: "It’s all YOUR fault!"

It is not a warrior’s role to assign blame. You do as you’re told and given a little piece of pride to ward off doubt.

You’ve never needed pride to do what needs to be done, though. You’ve never needed anything, because you are a warrior, and it’s not your role to do anything except crush and burn.

They call you the Colossal Titan; Reiner thinks it’s almost flattering, and he gently brushes your ego, just to see if you’ll take the bait. 

You don’t. 

You always feel unsteady and nervous in your human body, letting Reiner lead, just as he does in Titan form. He plows forward, and you tower; it’s a good match. But in Titan form, you don’t think about anything except the mission and your identity as a warrior. It’s comfortingly simple. 

You’re superior in Titan form, because you can’t kiss, you can’t touch, and you can’t assign blame. You’re a warrior, then, and you can’t do anything except what you’re supposed to. You can’t even move without considering the most basic of options: what is strategically the most advantageous.

It’s the kissing that you think really does it—strips you both of the title of warrior and reduces you to some warped variation of human. It’s grotesque in its own way, but you could never bring yourself to describe the feel of Reiner’s lips against yours as such.

After the years of bonds formed with the other trainees, of shared death and blood and fear, Reiner can no longer ward off doubt.

And you join him as he forgets everything, repeating to yourself over and over, like self-flagellation: _“It’s all YOUR fault.”_

You finally assign blame; and you are no longer a warrior.


End file.
